Commentaria in Judith
“SON OF SIMEON, SON OF RUBEN.”—Hence some think Judith descended from the tribe of Ruben. But that she was born of the tribe of Simeon is clear from her own words, chapter 9, verse 2. Wherefore the Greek here for “son of Ruben” has “son of Israel,” that is, of Jacob, and so St. Fulgentius, epistle 2, chapter 24, Bellarmine, book I *On the Word of God*, chapter 12, Serarius, Mariana and others think it should be read. Since, however, the Roman corrected Codices and the rest constantly have “son of Ruben,” it must be said that this Ruben is not the Patriarch and firstborn of Jacob, but an illustrious man of the tribe of Simeon, to whom therefore the genealogy of Judith is here carried and in him ends, not proceeding to his fathers and forefathers as far as Simeon the Patriarch, and second son of Jacob. That this is so is clear from what has been said, and from the fact that Ruben the firstborn of Jacob had no son called Simeon, as is plain Genesis 46,
2. “HER HUSBAND MANASSES.”—The Greek adds that he was of the same tribe and country as Judith.
“HE WAS STANDING OVER.”—In Greek, *epestê*, that is, “stood over”; whence some think that Manasses was prefect of the harvest, not his own, but public, or of the whole plain of Bethulia. For so at Rome and elsewhere there are public prefects of the corn supply and provisions. So Josephus in his *Life* says that the prefecture of the great plain was entrusted to Arbutius.
4. “SIX MONTHS.”—The Greek has, four months.
5. “AND IN THE UPPER ROOMS OF HER HOUSE (namely in the upper floor, or terrace) SHE MADE HERSELF A PRIVATE CHAMBER, IN WHICH SHE ABODE SHUT UP WITH HER MAIDS,”—both that she might flee men and the crowds of visitors, and so take thought for her chastity and good name; and that she might give herself wholly to prayer and to God. This, then, is the first dowry of the widow Judith, namely love of silence and solitude. Hence St. Jerome, in his epistle to the widow Furia, gives her this counsel: “Flee the company of young men, do not go out in public, nor be carried about, with an escort of eunuchs going before, in the freedom of widows: seek the society of holy virgins and widows. And if the necessity of conversing with men should press, do not avoid witnesses, and let your confidence in conversation be such that when another enters you neither tremble nor blush. The face is the mirror of the mind: and silent eyes confess the secrets of the heart.” And below: “Redeem virgins whom you may lead into the chamber of the King; receive widows whom you may mingle among the lilies of virgins and the roses of martyrs, as violets: in place of the crown of thorns in which Christ bore the sins of the world, weave such garlands.”
6. “AND WEARING SACKCLOTH UPON HER LOINS.”—Continually stimulating and pricking the flesh with its bristles as with little needles, and by that pain pressing down and extinguishing the stings of base pleasure that boil up with youthful blood. For sackcloth tames these more, as being constant and continual, than the passing pains of scourgings and blows. And so let the young, especially widows, arm themselves with sackcloth as with a most powerful protection to tame the flesh and keep chastity. See our Gretser, book *On the Disciplines*; for, as St. Jerome says, epistle 2 to the widow Ageruchia: “And certainly it is much more laborious not to enjoy what you have than to desire what you have lost. Hence virginity is easier in this, that it knows not the incentives of the flesh; and widowhood is more anxious in this, that it recalls past pleasures in the mind.” And earlier, setting forth examples of chastity of heathen matrons who preferred chastity to life: “I shall touch briefly,” he says, “on the queen of Carthage, who chose rather to burn than to wed king Hiarbas; and the wife of Hasdrubal, who, taking her children in both hands, threw herself into the fire beneath, that she might not suffer the loss of modesty; and Lucretia, who, her glory of chastity lost, would not survive with a polluted conscience.”
“SHE FASTED ALL THE DAYS OF HER LIFE, EXCEPT THE SABBATHS.”—Moreover the Jews fasted from morning to evening, and took no food before the sight of Hesperus and the stars, as the Turks still fast.
This was the third dowry of Judith, namely perpetual fasting, which withdrew from the fire of lust the fuel of delicacies, indeed even of necessary foods. Note that saying:
Take wood from the hearth, if you wish to put out the flame.
Hear St. Jerome, epistle 9 to Salvian on keeping widowhood: “You, indeed, who in the tomb of your husband buried all pleasures together, who washed with tears upon his bier the face painted with rouge and white lead, who laid aside the white garment and gilded shoe and took a dark tunic and black sandals; you have no need of anything else but to persevere in fasting. Let paleness and squalor be your jewels; let softness of feathers not cherish your youthful limbs; let the heat of baths not inflame the new blood of the young woman. Hear what the heathen Poet sings in the person of a continent widow:
He who first joined me to himself took away my loves; let him have them with him, and keep them in the tomb.
If the cheapest glass is of such worth, of what worth is the most precious pearl? If thus by the common law of nature a heathen widow condemns all pleasures, what is to be expected from a Christian widow, who owes her chastity not only to him who is dead, but also to Him with whom she is to reign?” And below: “It is much better that the stomach ache than the mind; to command the body than to serve it; to totter in gait than in chastity.” The same, epistle 10 to the widow Furia: “The burning darts of the devils,” he says, “are to be turned back by the rigour of fasts and vigils; moreover a widow who lives in delights is dead while living,” 1 Timothy 5. And below: “The Apostle wears down his body and subjects it to the command of the soul, lest he should not keep what he enjoins on others; and is a young girl, with a body glowing with food, secure about her chastity? In saying this I do not condemn the foods which God created to be used with thanksgiving; but from young men and girls I take away the incentives of pleasures. The fires of Etna, the Vulcanian land, Vesuvius and Olympus do not burn with such heats as the youthful marrow filled with wine and inflamed by feasts.” Then, exhorting her to abstain from wine and flesh, he adds: “And know that nothing so profits Christian youths as the eating of vegetables.” Hence in another place: “He that is weak,” he says, “let him eat herbs, and the heat of bodies is to be tempered with colder meals.” And soon: “Whatever makes a seed-bed of pleasures, count it poison. Sparing food and a belly always hungry are preferable to three days’ fasts. And it is much better to take a little daily than a great deal rarely. That rain is best which descends gently on the earth. A sudden and excessive shower overturns the fields headlong. When you eat, think that you must pray immediately, and at once read.” And after some things: “O if you could see your sister! She has fasts for her wine, prayer for her delights.”
7. “WHOM HER HUSBAND HAD LEFT GREAT RICHES,”—which she bestowed not for her own use, but for the use of the needy. Admirably St. Bernard, sermon on the feast of All Saints: “What,” he says, “is more admirable, or what martyrdom heavier, than to hunger amid feasts, to be pinched with cold amid many and precious garments, to be pressed by poverty amid the riches which the world offers, which the malignant one displays, which our very appetite desires? Shall not he be rightly crowned who has so striven, casting off the world that promises, mocking the enemy that tempts, and (what is more glorious) triumphing over himself, and crucifying the itching concupiscence?”